Drain plug



G. YATES DRAIN PLUG Feb. 17, 1942.

INVOR. Qeozfje irai/eww Filed Aug. 27, 1940 l v AITORNEY.

t Patented Feb. 17, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DRAIN PLUG GeorgeYates, Glendale, Calif. f

Application August 27, 1940, Serial No. 354,352

1 Claim.

This invention relates to Stoppers for laundry tubs and the like.

Customarily, Stoppers of this nature intended to close the drain of atub consist of a piece of rubber or other material of frusto-conicalconguration which are simply placed inthe opening of the drain andprevent passage of water therethrough. These stoppers are easilydislodged when the tub is in use by engagement of the contents of thetub with the ring of the stopper. As it is difficult and annoying tofre* quently replace the stopper in a tub full of hot water andclothing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a drainplug which is not readily displaceable.

' It is a further object of this invention to prolvide a plug which willeffectively seal the drain.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a plug which isadaptable to existing types of drains and to drains of different sizes.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a plug of thisnature which may be readily inserted or removed.

This invention possesses many other advantages and has other objectswhich may be made more easily apparent from a consideration of oneembodiment of the invention. For this purpose there is shown a form inthe drawing accompanying and forming part of the present specicaton.This form will now be described in detail, illustrating the generalprinciple of the invention; but it is to be understood that thisdetailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, since thescope of the invention is best deiined by the appended claim.

Referring now to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a device embodying the present inventionin place in a drain, the drain being in section;

Figure 2 is a bottom plan viewof the drain and plug of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional elevation of the device shown in Figure l withthe parts in one position of operation; and,

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3, showing the parts in a differentposition of operation.

The present invention contemplates the provision of an expansible plug,which can be made to securely fit a drain, and which does not dependupon the taper of the drain for sealing. To this end, the form of theinvention shown in the drawing includes a resilient ring which isdeformable by relative movement betweeny other parts of the device foreffecting a circumferentially continuous seal with the side walls of adrain.

The device shown includes a cylindrical body portion I0 having at itslower end an annular flange I I. Above the cylindrical body portion I isa second flange I2, and means is provided to adjustably vary the gapbetween the two flanges. This is accomplished by the provision of ashank I3 adjustably threaded through the upper end IDa of thecylindrical body portion III. The shank is rotatably mounted in a borein the flange, and provided with a shoulder` I4, bearing against theupper side of the flange I2. A suitable handle I5 is provided on theupper end of the shank I3 for grasping and for rotating the shank. Inorder to facilitate relative rotational movement between the shank andthe body portion, the lower face of the body portion is provided withlingers I6 for engaging the screen or grid I'I in the drain D.

Between the two flanges, and surrounding and held in position by thecylindrical body portion III, is a resilient ring I8 of rubber or thelike, of such size as to be capable of expansion into contact with thewalls of the drain upon movement of the flanges II and I2 toward eachother. The whole assembly is prevented from coming apart by theprovision of a washer I9 on the end of the threaded shank I3. It hasbeen found convenient to form the ports of the device from` plasticmaterial, which permits the bonding of the washer to the shank byacetone or the like.

The device, as described to this point, can readily be used, butrequires considerable turning of the handle I5 to expand the ring toform a satisfactory seal. In order to facilitate the engagement of therubber ring with the walls of the drain, the facing sides of the flangesII and I2` are tapered as shown in Figure 3, while the resilient ring ismade rectangular in cross-section. With such a construction, approach ofthe lianges towards each other causes the ring to bulge, rather than toexpand, as shown in Figure 4, which deformation is achieved withconsiderably less work being performed on the rubber ring. This bulgingalso makes the contact with the drain of the nature of a line contact,which is much easier to make continuous than a wider contact, andconsequently less likely to leak under the slight pressure encounteredin structures of this nature.

It is to be understood, of course, that variations in the constructionmay be practiced without departing from the spirit of the invention asdefined in the appended claim. For instance, it

cylindrical body having a flange secured to one end thereof, a secondflange, a member rotatable in said second flange and threadedly engagingthe cylindrical body, said member having a shoulder engaging the secondflange to move said second flange toward the rst mentioned flange uponrotation of the threaded member in said cylindrical body, and aresilient ring surrounding the cylindrical body between the flanges.

GEORGE YATES`

